Symbiosis
by Monday
Summary: But in the end Naruto is the host and he holds all the power. Oneshot


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it characters. **

**On a high note though, It my birthday!! Review for presents please.**

_Naruto visits Inari once, years after the bridge has been completed. Though Wave Country has become much more prosperous since the last time he was there, it is still much more peaceful than Konohagakure and he wishes he'd been sent on a mission there sooner._

_He takes the younger boy to the surf and they sit on the edge of the harbour, their feet dangling over the clear water._

_There's been a lull in conversation when Inari asks why his eyes are purple. He remembers them being blue._

_Naruto widens his eyes innocently "Because blue and red make purple."_

Only once does Kyubbi actively try to punish his host.

It is a after a particularly bloody mission and Naruto can't remember much of what happened. In his memory there is only a haze of red before he slips into a sort of semi-consciousness and he can distantly feel demon bloodlust consuming him. When he awakes, blood has stained the grass red and he is left standing there to wonder how he manages to forgets how much blood there is in the human body.

The slaughter has happened on a field. And it is broad daylight. Naruto thinks that it should be a rule of the universe that mass murder only happens at night. In the rain and in a forest where at least _some _of the dead bodies can be mistaken as tree stumps.

He sees his team mates scattered on the ground around him. He can't remember if they were dead before or after the haze began. Then he sees the kunai buried deep in their flesh and relaxes. Unless Kyubbi has suddenly changed its method of slaughter, they were killed by the enemy. A glance at his arms reassure him; his jacket is soaked with blood from the shoulder down. Naruto flicks a piece of intestine clinging to his finger off and doesn't even bother to wonder how much of the blood is his own.

"_You're healing a lot slower than normal." Says Sakura. _

_Naruto almost asks if there is a question in her statement but realizes almost immediately the cheek will only grant him a punch through the wall. Instead he replies with the straight truth._

"_I've stopped using the fox's chakra. The loss of control is becoming too dangerous."_

"_Is that wise?" She asks and Naruto looks at her oddly._

"_You've survived without a demon in your stomach, haven't you?"_

The Kyubbi doesn't notice at first. Or more accurately he doesn't believe it at first. The brat has made many such threats before and always in the height of battle with the adrenaline pumping and the stakes rising he always comes back to the demon for power. So the nine tailed fox laughs when his container stays he will stop using demonic chakra. The nine tailed fox laughs and curls in the back of his prison, waiting for the next life threatening mission.

At first when his container returns with cuts that aren't healing, kyubbi sighs in aggravation. There's no reason for them to be in pain and no matter what his host believes, demons are _not _masochistic. But he doesn't get angry because they're only small cuts and heal quickly even without Kyubbi's help.

He is impressed, though, by the chakra control being exerted to keep even miniscule amounts of his chakra out of his container's system. Impressive yet worrying since it means that it will be that much harder to take control of this pathetic body. Again he curls in his cage, confident that the brat will soon call upon him. After all it won't be long before Naruto realises exactly how much he needs him when one of his 'precious people' is in danger and he needs to be just a little bit faster, little bit stronger.

His tails are beating the ground impatiently this time though and when he sees a mission go to hell, he is already at the gates ready to lend his chakra and feel flesh rip beneath his paws even if it will be nothing but a borrowed sensation. He pushes his chakra through the bars as he has become accustomed to and the red tendrils of heat and energy begin to penetrate the dreary sewer surroundings. Kyubbi almost whimpers in anticipation at the blood that will soon spill. And then his chakra begins to dissipate.

He understands immediately what is happening and almost can't believe that his host would be so stubborn as to let himself die for a vow only he believes in. But the walls around have started to lose their reality like they haven't since the last time he was separated from his injured container and he doesn't think he has ever seen the pink haired bitch look so afraid.

"_What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Kyubbi snarls once Naruto has lost consciousness and appeared in his mindscape. _

"_We could've died!"_

_Naruto smiles. It's a sickly smile and he looks as if he's on the brink of death. His skin is pale and colourful bruises are apparent on every part of skin visible._

"_Yes, we could have. Wasn't it exciting?" _

_The demon fox actually throws himself at the bars in anger. Naruto doesn't even flinch._

Only once does Kyubbi actively try to punish his host.

It begins softly like a creeping disease waiting to take hold. He leaks into Naruto's dreams, slips memories of bloody times and the hunger for fear. Naruto soon loses count of the number of times he wakes up with images of meaningless slaughter that have been burned into his retinas overnight. Many of his friends comment on the bags under his eyes with concern. Naruto has never anything but the picture of health unless he is in hospital clinging to life.

He is a man of extremes.

Maybe this is why he doesn't give in, though it might just be his obstinate nature showing through. Maybe that's why he now ends in the hospital for days where it used to be hours. And maybe that's why he's begun to steal sleeping pills from Sakura, Tsunade and Hinata.

Kyubbi sneers at the pathetic human being his host has become and waits for more missions. Naruto can't afford to take drugs on missions where he has to be alert every second. He braces himself for the dreams and sure enough they come once more. It would almost be comforting to know he can predict the demon if the prediction being right didn't mean he would wake up choking back vomit.

The demon has gotten smarter and starts show him scenes of Konoha's destruction so many years ago. For once in his life Naruto is glad that shinobi die young. It means that he rarely recognizes any one from his dreams of before.

The line has blurred between his memories and the demon's and he can remember tearing the arm off a ninja that walks by his apartment everyday, even if it happened days before his birth. And there is an old woman who glares at him when he passes her house and she looks exactly like her son, whom he remembers eating, bones shattering easily between his teeth and sweet, warm blood coursing down his throat.

Finally, after he's stopped being able to look Kakashi and Iruka in the eyes, he tells the Kyubbi that he will poke his own eyes out. The demon laughs at the threat. After all Naruto wants to be Hokage and what good is a blind shinobi let alone a blind Hokage?

Naruto returns the laughter and the question.

What good is a _crazy_ Hokage?

_A little girl joins him at the ramen stand for lunch. Naruto knows she's staring at him and instead of confronting her like he might've before he eats his ramen in silence._

_She orders a miso ramen and after she gets the bowl, eats the noodles much more quietly than he does. All the while he can still feel her eyes on him. He thinks she is maybe half way through her bowl when she asks why he has no eyes._

"_I didn't want my eyes to be purple." Naruto says with a smile and his eyelids hide empty sockets._

**oo0O0oo**


End file.
